The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has issued a 48 hours ultimatum to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to publish the names of lawmakers who he claimed were awarded contracts by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as well as the details of the contracts.
The Speaker said should the minister fail to publish the names, the House will employ the full wrath to ensure he does so.
The ultimatum comes a day after the minister claimed that most of the contracts awarded by the NDDC were awarded to lawmakers.
Senator Akpabio had claimed that the lawmakers were “the greatest beneficiaries” of NDDC contracts when he appeared before the House Committee on NDDC on Monday.
When asked how the lawmakers benefitted, Akpabio said, “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in the NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly”.
The Minister’s claim had generated controversy and questioned the integrity of the committee set up to probe the alleged N81bn financial misappropriation by the NDDC.
Addressing the House on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila, who has been a federal lawmaker since 2003, said he had never received any NDDC contract before.
The Speaker who accused Senator Akpabio of pulling the oldest trick in the book with the claims, subsequently gave Akpabio 48 hours to reveal the identities of the lawmakers that received the NDDC contracts of face severe sanction.
On Thursday, Mr Gbajabiamila had to intervene in the sitting of the committee after the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Daniel Pondei, slumped while being grilled about spendings by the commission.
He had called for calm and assured all those invited to appear before the committee that the invites were in the interest of the country and not targeted at anyone, stressing that it was a fact-finding mission.
The Speaker wished Pondei quick recovery and urged the committee to proceed quickly and wrap up its investigations.
While issuing an ultimatum to Senator Akpabio about his claims, Mr Gbajabiamila, however, said the committee had the right to invite Pondei again should it feel the need to do so.
